Balance
by Zalonesca
Summary: While Jak goes missing for 3 years, Daxter learns how to use the power of the precursors. What will Daxter's reaction be when he uncovers a dark figures true identity? An- WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO JAK? Jak/Daxter Yaoi
1. Prologue: Goodbye

Prologue: Goodbye

There Jak lay on his back with Daxter comfortably laying on his chest. Jak stared up at the ceiling deep in thought. Tonight would be the last night he would see Daxter. The last time the ottsel would sleep on his chest. The last time he would lay in a bed with his best friend.

He was leaving Haven and Spargus. Leaving the two cities that needed it's true ruler on the throne, but he didn't want to rule the city that thought of him as a monster. Only Sig new Jak was Damas' son only after they had told them and explained everything. But Jak insisted that if Spargus needed a King, that they needed one with experience.

A year had passed since then, and his dark side was getting harder and harder to control by the day even with light eco injections. No one knew of the injections, not even Daxter. And now he was leaving. All he would take were his weapons, the clothes on his back, and his amulet that carried his family's crest on it.

Jak lifted Daxter off his chest as he sat up and set him on the pillow. Daxter only curled up into a ball in his sleep. Jak smiled as he slid his shirt on over the amulet that hung from his neck. He grabbed his goggles and leather straps that held his gun to his back. He grabbed a pen and jotted down a note leaving it on the nightstand.

With one last look at Daxter he turned and exited the room into the back hallway. He made his way down the stairs and into the main room of the Naughty Ottsel. He looked around. No one in sight. Then again, what did he expect? It was two in the morning. He walked through the room and out the door. He took one last look at the building that held so many memories, both good and bad, then left.

* * *

Daxter woke up the next morning to a bright light coming in from the window that was directly beside the bed that he and Jak shared.

'Stupid sun.' thought Daxter. As his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he looked around the room to find that Jak was missing. His eye caught a glimpse of a piece of paper on the nightstand. He sleepily crawled toward it and sluggishly grabbed it. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. Daxter held the note up so he could read what resided on the note.

Take care of Samous and Keira for me, and watch your tail. -Jak

It take a couple of seconds for the message to click. Jak was gone.

* * *

to be continued..


	2. Chapter 1: The Dark Figure

_**AN: I changed some of the wording in here. But it's pretty much the same.**_

* * *

Chapter 1: The Dark Figure

Daxter stood in front of the Oracle waiting for it to speak to him.

When Jak suddenly disappeared three years ago it was chaos for the Freedom League. Torn sent out search parties all over the city. After three months they finally gave up. Daxter went to Seem after that to see if he knew anything. He suggested he go to the temple where one of the Great Oracles resided to see if it knew anything. Sig gladly took Daxter to the temple.

He somehow made his way to the Oracle that gave Jak his Light powers while Sig waited outside the temple. Daxter asked where Jak was but the Oracle said he would not tell. Then the Oracle went on how now that Daxter knew that he was a precursor that he needed to learn how to use the powers that came with being one and all that crap. That's when he received his first power, force fields.

Over the coarse of those three years he came back again and again to receive new powers, and now once again he stood in front of the Oracle to receive yet another power.

Daxter looked up to the Oracle.

"Young precursor. It is time again for you to learn yet another one of the powers that your race possesses." A light shown down on Daxter as he was lifted into the air and set back down, "I give you the power of transformation. A power that easily allows you to blend in with other races. Use it well, as you will need it soon." The Oracle's eyes faded and went back sleep.

Daxter turned and headed out the door.

'The power of transformation, huh?' then an idea popped up in his head. 'I can finally be an elf again!' he cheered inside his head. "Yahoo!" he yelled as he jumped up and down. "Wait till I tell-" and then he stopped mid sentence. 'That's right. Jak's missing. Probably dead.' Daxter shook the thought from his head. 'Anyway, if I'm going to be able to transform into an elf I'll need to get some clothes first.' he looked up to see he was already at the temple's entrance.

"Hey, cherry!" Sig greeted while leaning against the huge, desert vehicle. "How'd it go with the Oracle?"

"Good." Daxter said casually.

"What's it this time?" of course Sig knew about the powers that the Oracle gave Daxter. It was one of those things that Daxter just couldn't give up the opportunity to brag about. Though, the only people he didn't brag about it to were Torn and Ashelin, they would think he was crazy.

"Transformation." Sig nodded his head in thought.

"Well come on, cherry." he said as he and Daxter jumped into the vehicle. "I'll drop you of at the transport to Haven. I got a call a while back about a sandstorm hitting Spargus sometime soon, and I know you won't want to be here for that." Daxter just nodded in agreement.

"Ya, Damas told me and Jak that they'll rip the very flesh from your bones!"

"And, boy was he right. I've seen the bodies, not pretty. The only creatures that can stand that kind of storm are the the flying type of wasteland metalhead."

* * *

Daxter had spent a good hour or two walking along the streets of Haven before he finally came across a decent clothes store. He still liked the color red, and he wanted something comfy. As he grabbed a pair of tan pants, black boots, and a red tang top, he stopped to think for a moment.

'Hmm.' Daxter thought, 'I need something to go over the shirt, just incase.' the orange rodent looked around in the jacket department until he found something that caught his eye. A black leather jacket.

A big grin appeared on his face as he climbed the clothes rack and unhooked the hanger from it's place. Daxter sighed. Now to lug it all to the top of the counter.

Daxter tiredly pulled the shopping bag up the stairs to his room. He hopped up onto the bed and sighed. "Ugh, I hate stairs." he complained. "Well, let's see if these clothes fit." Honestly he didn't know what size he would be. So he just picked out clothes for Jak's size.

Daxter sat up on the bed. 'Wonder if this power works the same or not?' Daxter always controlled his other powers by thought. Why should this be any different? 'Okay, Orange Lightning. Just think elf.' Daxter thought to himself.

He started to feel a tingle in his spine. It slowly went throughout his body and back towards his spine again. Daxter held his eyes close the whole time thinking one word. Elf. Then all of a sudden the tinging stopped.

Daxter opened his eyes and looked down to see his original body. Wide hips, thin legs, and long feet. He got up to look in the mirror. No freckles or buck teeth, but he still had an over bite. His orange hair was long and stuck up like it did when he was a kid, but he had bangs now, He chuckled. Kinda looked like fire.

Daxter walked over to the shopping bag that had his clothes in it. "I hope they fit." Daxter slid his pants and shirt on with ease. The tang top was a little too big, but it fit. He grabbed his jacket and boots and put them on. He walked back over to the mirror to see how he looked. He grinned at what he saw. "Oh yeah, Orange Lightning is still as sexy as before!"

Daxter's ears started to twitch as he heard sirens coming from the streets to show that the city was on alert. But they weren't the normal sirens. They were _those_ sirens, the ones that only came on during the war when one of the shields went down. What could be so dangerous to put the city on high alert? Something told him that he had to go find out. It was stupid, yes, but when did he ever make wise choses anyway? He grabbed the jet board and raced out of the Naughty Ottsel.

* * *

Every where people were scrambling to get out of the street. He heard shooting coming from his left. Daxter switched the jet board on making it increase to it's normal size. He threw it down to the grown and jumped on it, taking a couple seconds to get balanced on it. Ever so slightly he leaned forward and the jet board started to move forward.

"Okay, I can do this." Daxter told himself.

As Daxter maneuvered in between the pedestrians the shooting became ouder. The shooting stopped and guards started running from around the corner in the opposite. "Get Torn on the line!" One of the guards shouted as he redhead continued around the corner. Now he had to see this if they were needing to contact Torn.

What Daxter saw would've made any other elf gag at the scene. There, lay a single guard's body. If you can even call it that any more. His face and chest were ripped open, the arms and shins were torn off, his eyes were gauged out and their hair lay all around their body in shreds. The only other time he had seen this much blood is when his friend's dark alter ego was around.

Daxter looked up to see a dark figure standing far enough away just to make out some details. They wore a long black cloak with the hood up and had a red scarf covering their nose and mouth. Daxter tried to see the color of the eyes but they were covered by the hood. The figure looked over to Daxter. Daxter gulped. The dark figure simply turned away and started to run.

Daxter leaned forward as far as he could without falling off as the jet board took off with a sudden jerk of speed. The dark figure turned a corner, soon Daxter did the same, and the figure was gone.

Daxter balanced himself out again bringing the jet board to a stop. How did the guy just disappear? Who was he in the first place? Daxter decided he wouldn't question it further, he needed to head back to the Naughty Ottsel before more guards showed up in south town.

* * *

There sat Jinx sat at Naughty Ottsel waiting for somebody to come and get him a drink while Tess sat on the counter trying to make a conversation.

"Wonder where the rat is?" Jinx questioned.

"I'm coming!" Came a yell from upstairs. There Daxter came racing down the stairs still in his elf form.

"Who the hell are you?"

"It's me you idiot!"

"Oh, got another power? Let me guess...shape shifting."

"Close, transformation." Jinx only scoffed at this. They were the same freaking thing! Why did it matter?

"The usual?" Daxter asked, referring to the soon to be drink.

"Yeah." As Daxter walked to the back he heard the front door open. Another customer. Daxter came back with a beer and set it on the counter in front of Jinx. Jinx and Tess kept there eyes looking in the mirror. Daxter turned to see what they were looking at in the reflective glass. He saw the dark figure he saw earlier sitting at one of the booths. Daxer leaned in toward the pair.

"You know who that guy is?" Jinx and Tess only shook their heads.

"No, but I hear he's trouble." Tess whispered, "I think we better go."

"Hop on my shoulder, I'll take you back to HQ." Jinx said. Tess nodded as she climbed up on Jinx's shoulder. "See ya later, flamy." the blond said as he walked away and out the door. Daxter thought for a moment about the nickname. Then it was clear he was commenting on the hair. Like how he use to always call Jak pretty boy because of his long hair. Daxter looked over to the dark figure.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Daxter asked the figure. No reply. He didn't like this. Something was off about the guy that gave him a deathly aura. Daxter picked up a whiskey glass and started to clean it. He studied the figure more.

He had a built body, but he was thin. The way he sat showed that he had had a hard life. His legs were posed in a way that if he needed to make a run for the door he could. He wore brown fingerless gloves that showed short black nails and pale skin.

"Freeze!" a guard yelled as he barged in holding the gun ready to aim. The figure quickly stood up in an attack stance. The guard pointed their gun at the figure and shot them in the right shoulder. Daxter panicked.

Daxter levitated a chair and threw it at the guard knocking him out the door. Daxter ran to the door closing and locking it.

Ah, yes. Being a precursor sure did come in handy.

The redhead turned his attention back to the cloaked figure as he ran in between the tables to their aid. There, lay the figure on the floor, their hood and scarf that hid their identity had fallen off, and a pool of blood now gathering on the floor were they were shot.

Daxter leaned down and turned the figure over. There were so many emotions swirling around inside the twenty-one year old, Daxter couldn't describe any of them except shock and happiness.

Because there on the floor unconscious and bleeding in his arms, was Jak.

* * *

_too be continued.._


	3. Chapter 2: Morning Gone Wrong

Chapter 3: Morning Gone Wrong

There on the floor Daxter held his best friend in his arms.

"Jak! Jak! Jak, wake up buddy!" no response. Daxter held his fingers up to the green-blonde's neck to check his pulse. Daxter could barely feel anything. One of Daxter's hands came up to cup Jak's cheek. It was ice cold. "Jak? Jak?" Tears started to form in the corner of his eyes. "Jak…" he whimpered. He had so many questions going through his head. Where had he been? Why did he finally show himself after so long? Was this how his best friend was going to die?

A light was showing through Jak's clothes where he had been shot. Jak's breathing started to grow heavier with each breath. He leaned into Daxter's touch as the light eco healed his body. Jak's eyes started to flutter open. He turned his head so he was facing Daxter.

"Daxter?" he whispered.

"Ya, it's me." Daxter smiled, "I finally got my body back."

"Did they hurt you?"

"Nah. I took care of them." Jak smirked and gripped at Daxter's jacket. Daxter noticed that Jak's iris' were no longer blue, but black.

"I need to hide from them. No one can no I was here."

"It's a little too late for that, babe."

"Ya, I figured." Jak's face turned to one of panic as he quickly pulled his hood back over his head and sat up, wincing at the pain coming from his wound.

"Jak, what's wro-"

"Can I stay here for awhile, Dax?" Jak interrupted, obviously wanting to change the subject. Daxter tipped his head back in laughter.

"Of course, buddy! We both do own the place!" Jak chuckled.

"Ya. I suppose we do." Daxter stood up of the floor.

"Well, I've had a long day, so I should probably get going to bed. Care to join?" Daxter looked back down at his hooded friend. He noticed Jak's nails were still black, but short. "Jak, are you sure your okay?" Jak stood up and walked past Daxter.

"Tell you the truth, I'm not sure." Jak continued to walk up the stairs and into his room. Daxter sighed.

'Always pushing people away.' Daxter thought as he walked up the stairs to his room. Maybe he could sleep peacefully tonight.

* * *

Jak looked in the mirror in the bathroom at himself. He stared at his hideous black horns that sat on his head and the huge scares and dark eco crystals that mutilated his chest. He looked down at his hands and feet to see black nails. He sighed and slid his boxers and sweet shirt on. He lifted the hood over his head and headed to his room.

Jak walked out of the bathroom to see Daxter sitting on the bed in his night shorts. Daxter stood up.

"Finally got out of the shower? I almost thought you feel asleep in there." Daxter noticed the hood. "Jak, really. Take the hood off, buddy." Daxter reached his hand out to take Jak's hood off only to have the blonde back away from his hand.

"Jak, what's wrong?" no reply. Daxter stepped forward as Jak backed up. The cycle kept going until Jak's back hit the wall of the room. Daxter reached out again and took Jak's hood off. Jak looked away as Daxter stared at Jak's horns. "Jak-"

"I'm stuck like this okay!" Jak yelled in a harsh tone. "I keep a hood on to hide the horns and I cut my claws to look like nails, okay! I'm stuck looking like the monster I am!" Jak kept his gaze away from Daxter.

Daxter examined Jak, he could tell he wanted to leave. Even though he had the claws and horns of one of his others, he still had the skin color of his true self. Daxter face turned into a glare as he grabbed Jak's ear and dragged him to the bed.

"Ow ow ow!" Jak exclaimed as he was dragged over to the bed and roughly shoved onto the soft material. He looked over to see Daxter scolding him.

"Do you think I care what you look like? Your you, and not dead, and that's all that matters! Precursors, you can be such an idiot sometimes!" Daxter took a deep breath and sighed getting into the small bed next to Jak. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight."

Jak just stared at the back of his friend's head. What was he supposed to think? He hadn't expected Daxter to find out about his hideous form so soon.

'Please, please mean that.' Jak thought as he sniffed his friend's hair. Pine. Just like back in Sandover. Now he remembered why he loved his best friend. Because back then in Sandover, Daxter was the only person willing to hang out with the mute. At first it was hard to communicate, but they worked it all out after a month or two. From that time to the jail break, Daxter had been Jak's voice.

Jak reached down and pulled the cover over him and Daxter. Already, Jak could hear light snoring coming from his friend. Jak smiled. He really did love the redhead. More than a friend, too. 'Ugh, Daxter. Why did we never get another bed?' the question was ment for Daxter, but he didn't want to wake his friend. The bed was crowded, but it beat sleeping in the streets like he had been the last three years. Plus, where would they put another bed? The living quarters in the back of the Naughty Ottsel was more like a hotel room. The bedroom, and kitchen all being one room and then the bathroom.

Not really enough room for two full grown elves to be living in.

When Daxter was an ottsel it wasn't so crowded. He was only two feet tall after all, but he still ate like any normal elf despite his size. 'Wait, getting off topic now.' Jak went back to his previous problem at hand as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Daxter awoke to something warm around him. Didn't know what it was, but it was nice. He leaned into the warmth only to have it's grip tighten around him. Why couldn't he wake up like this every morning? Whatever this warmth was he just wanted to snuggle up with it. That's when he felt something breathing down his neck. Then he remembered Jak.

Daxter's eyes shot open. He looked down to see Jak's arm around his chest protectively.

When he tried to move his legs he only found them tangled with the blonde's. Daxter never felt his face get so hot in his life. He tried to get out of Jak's grip only to have it tighten around him. He tried again. Didn't move an inch. Precursors, how strong could Jak be in his sleep?

"Jak. Jaaak." No reply. "JAK!"

"Woah!" Jak yelled as his arm flung to grab a gun that wasn't at his side, releasing his grip on Daxter. "What! Where is it!" Jak looked around the room to see that Daxter had fallen off the bed in all the commotion. "Oh, it's just you." Jak said with relief.

"Well, that was a fine hello." Jak chuckled. The last time Daxter had said that is when he broke him out of prison.

"And you've been crawling around this place for two years risking your tail, literally, to save me, right?" Daxter caught on to the joke.

"Damn straight." Both men burst out into laughter. Wow, Jak never thought there would be a day where he would be laughing about a jail break. Their laughter slowly calmed leaving Jak and Daxter to grab at their ribcages.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha, oh boy!" Daxter gave the last laughs.

"My ribs and cheeks hurt from laughing so much!" Jak exclaimed as he wiped away a tear on the edge of his eye. Daxter stared wide eyed at Jak. He had never seen Jak laugh so much that tears were forming in his eyes!

Then Jak froze. His face painted with horror as he clawed at his chest. It was the eco crystals in his chest again. The hand that was clawing at his chest went to his throat. Jak started gasping. Daxter stood in worry.

"Jak! Jak, what's wrong?" Jak got out of bed grabbing onto random items in the room for support as he made his way over to his jacket on the rack. Jak grabbed onto the counter for more support. '

Only a couple more feet!' That's when Jak tripped over his own feet in all the panic. The green-blonde landed on the floor with a thud still gasping for air. Jak looked up. His jacket was right above him!

Jak grabbed the jacket and pulled it down. The jacket along with the rack came tumbling down beside him. Things started to go blurry and the elf's lungs felt like they were on fire. He searched his jacket's pockets.

With a shaky hand, Jak pulled out a big needle with light eco in it. He didn't care if he was being careful with it or not. He just needed the damn eco! The blur was starting to turn to patches of black. Jak forced the needle into the skin of his stomach and slowly injected the eco. Daxter didn't know what to think or do. It was all too sudden, all happening too fast. The redhead ran over to the oxygen deprived body to find it unconscious.

"Jak? Jak!" Daxter held his wrist to check for a pulse. Yep, he's got a pulse. Still alive.

Daxter grabbed the needle from Jak's hand and examined it. _Eco Injection Needle: Inject when needed_. It read. He looked back at Jak. How long had he been doing this? Didn't Jak know what injecting eco into a person can do to them? Why was he even doing this in the first place?

* * *

Jak bolt upright with a loud gasp, color returning to his skin. He was in bed again. He looked over to Daxter to see him glaring at him. "Care to tell me what this is?" Daxter asked holding up the needle. Jak looked away.

"It's none of your business." Jak said as he looked away.

Daxter was fuming. If it was possibly, steam would be coming out of his ears right now. Nothing could possibly make the situation better.

"None of my- Jak! Your injecting eco into yourself! For once, would you not push people away when they're trying to help you?" Jak got up not looking at Daxter and proceeded to the bathroom.

Daxter huffed in annoyance and got back in bed, he normally slept his anger off anyways.

* * *

_to be continued..._


	4. Chapter 3: Because of the Eco

**Reminder: This story is enbeta.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Because of the Eco

Jak sat up against the door in the bathroom as his breathing grew heavy.

'Calm down, Jak. You know what happens when you get like this.' he thought. Damn. Why did Daxter have to find out like this? He was going to tell him eventually about the eco. Daxter probably thought he was trying to get high off of it. Jak smirked at the thought. No amount of eco could make him feel THAT good. He looked down at his hand. Was he really that pale? It wasn't the grey pale when he turned into his dark alter ego. Wearing a long cloak and gloves just protected him from the sun. Maybe it was time for a tan.

Jak sighed. He just made his best friend so upset that he was on the edge of explosion and he's thinking about getting a tan? What was wrong with him? He should be thinking about how he was going to face Daxter when he walked back out that door. Jak considered his options. He could stay in the bathroom, but it was kinda cramped. He could try to sneak outside. Ya, that's the option he'll go with

Jak stood up and used his dark eco to turn invisible and slowly turned the doorknob and slid the door opened. He peeked his head out the door to see Daxter laying in bed. He sighed. How could he sneak out now seeing him like this. He knew how Daxter felt when he thought he was mad. 'Okay, Jak. You can do this.'

Jak became visible again and walked over to the bed. He reached out to touch Daxter's shoulder.

"Go away." Came Daxter's voice. Jak ignored him and turned him on his back. Daxter glared at Jak, his face was still red from earlier. "What do you want?" he said with venom. It intimidated Jak hearing something like that come from Daxter and be directed towards him.

"Move over." Jak whispered.

Why would I do that? I'm still mad at you." Daxter saw the hurt in his eyes when he said it.

"Move, or I'll move you myself." Jak said louder this time. Daxter simply rolled over and ignored the threat. "Fine then." Jak picked Daxter up bridal style and set him on the other side of the twin bed and crawled in.

"Hey!" Daxter yelled.

"Hay is for metalheads and yakows." Jak retorted. Daxter became flustered and started to hit Jak with the pillow. The green-blonde scrunched his nose as he got hit in the face. Jak's hand made his way around to Daxter's side poking it playfully.

"EEP!" Daxter dropped the pillow and covered his sides as Jak continued to poke them. "HAHAHAHAHAHA JAK JAK STOP HAHAHA PRCUROSOR STOP!" Jak decided to show mercy for once and tickling Daxter. The redhead calmed down and settled next to Jak. Jak stared at Daxter taking in the details of his new elf body. Not tan but not pale, red hair with an orange tinge on the ends, and soft dull blue eyes. Jak blushed and a goofy smile spread on Jak's face as he laid down next to Daxter. "I wasn't really mad at you ya'know. I just wasn't expecting the injections, or the horns, or the claws, oh, and the eyes."

Jak put his arm across Daxter's stomach as his friend laid his head in the crook of his shoulder. Daxter felt Jak's body relax to the familiar feeling of them sleeping together. Daxter never liked sleeping in his own bed when he stayed over at Samous' House so he and Jak slept together. After a while Jak couldn't stand the thought of sleeping alone.

"I left because of the eco."

"I'm listening." Daxter said. Jack smircked.

"It was getting harder to change back from my other forms. So I left to seek help...wherever I could get it atleast." Daxter nodded. "I'll tell you now I went to alot of places to find some decent eco sages."

"There's others besides Samous in this time?"

"Ya, surprised me too. Anyway, I worked for some of them in return to see if they could do anything. None of them could really do that much. Then I came across this one yellow eco sage. While I was working for her I met her apprentice. They had the same condition as me, only they were how I am now. They got in an...incident with yellow eco when they where born. But, ya. They helped me out. They said that this is the worst it would get but since I have two types of eco I should keep myself balanced. So they suggested eco injections when I needed to get balanced out. After a couple of weeks after getting everything undercontrol I started to come back here."

"Then how did you get the horns and stuff?"

"I'm getting to that. Anyway, I was making my way from city to city to get here and ..." Jak paused for a moment, "...the apprentince was traveling with me so she could meet other sages and we we're attacked be a band of metalheads. They transformed into...well whatever a alter yellow ego is and I turned into Dark Jak." Jak paused again," After that I wasn't to completely transform back. Only my skin and hair turned back, and I'm sure you've noticed that the blues of my eyes are black, still got the whites of them though!"

"Well what happens when you go all Darkie now?" Jak looked away.

"It's alot worse, more feral, another two pair of horns. One pair on the shoulders and another directly behind they ears, unless you want to count the ones I have now, claws are longer and I've got fangs. Ya, just add a glowing skull and you could mistake me foe a metalhead."

"I'll be the judge of that. Hey, not that I wasn't listening or anything, but you want to go back to sleep? Because it's still like eight ol'clock in the morning." Jak laughed. This is one of the qualities he loved about Daxter. He could tell him just about anything and he wouldn't freak out.

"Ya, Dax. I kinda've want to too.


	5. Chapter 4: Heroes

Chapter 4: Heroes

A boom came from down stairs. As if someone was kicking the door down. Jak and Daxter bolted up. "It's the guards! They've found me!" Jak ran to grab his coat and scarf/goggles and quickly put them on.

"I'm coming with you!" Daxter stated. Jak turned around to protest but a little furry ottsel with pants on was already making his way towards him. Daxter got to his feet ready to pounce up onto Jak's shoulder when there bedroom door was kicked opened.

* * *

"Well, do you have any idea where that thing is?" Ashelin asked into the communicator.

"Ya. Some of my men said they saw him in southtown. I'm heading over there right now." Torn replied back while dodging mutiple zoomers.

"Good. I want whatever that thing is found and out of my city. We'll have Sig decide what to do with it later."

"Sounds like a good plan." Ashelin hung up and the communicator went back into his pocket.

Torn made it to southtown and slowed the hellctat down. He came across the crime scene from the day before. It was blocked off and you could see various guards and some detectives inspecting the scene. Torn got off his zoomer and walked over to the crime scene. "What happened here?" he asked one of the guards. The female guard turned to him while soluting.

"Me and my patrol partners where on our route when we saw two suspicious looking cloacked figures. I suspect that they noticed us and that's when one of them started to run away. We tried to go after them but then the other figure grabbed our leader and well..." she paused, "I'm not exactly what sure what happened, sir. It all happened so fast. Next thing we know our leaders inside and limbs were everywhere. Sir." Torn nodded and looked at the scene again.

"How many people are in your patrol group?" Torn asked in deep thought.

"Three, sir. Me, my brother, and our leader, sir." Torn nodded.

"Where's your brother?"

"I don't know, sir. He never reported in this morning. He has been very ill lately, sir." Torn examined the female gaurd. Blonde hair, deep blue eyes. She didn't have any tattoos yet so she was still in training. He could tell by her pose that she has had a rough life. Good. He liked that. That means she's not soft. She could take a beating. Torn looked at her ears. They were perked up just like a young childs so she was extremely healthy. Then he saw the bud earings. She wore the symbol of Mar in her ears.

"So how are you related to Mar?" Torn asked sternly. The young elf blushed. She didn't expect anyone to notice her earings.

"Oh. My uncle used to be ruler of this city. Damas I think his name was. My father was his younger brother by about two years."

"Interesting. Have you been assigned to a new group yet?"

"No, sir." Torn nodded.

"You got a name?"

"I just go by Mar, sir. My father disapeared when I was young, so I never knew my first name, sir."

"Okay if I call you Mary then? Mar's more of a guy name." The guard's eyes lit up.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Because from this point forward your on my team." Torn said with pride in his voice.

"Sir." Mary called out. "If I am to be on your team, may I at least know your name and rank, sir?" Torn smirked.

"It's Torn, I'm the Freedom League Commander. Used to be second in command of the Underground. Oh, and don't be so formal with me. Not really my style. Just call me Torn." Mary nodded. Torn turned back to the scene. There's only one person that he knew that could do that much damage to a person so fast. Another Freedom Guard approached Torn.

"Sir, I have reports from one of my men that he saw the figure go into the Naughty Ottsel last night."

"Right. Set up a perimiter at every entrance of southtown. Road, alley, sewer. Cover it all. Make sure no comes in or out. I'm going to the Naughty Ottsel to check things out. Whatever you do _don't _send anyone inside." Torn turned to Mary. "Mary, how long have you been in training?"

"About six months."

'So she's never been on an actual mission.' he thought. "Good at the gun?"

"Ya."

"Good. Your gonna need. Your first mission, given to us by the Baroness herself, is to hunt down the beast. He's been causing a lot of trouble in a lot of different cities and Ashelin wants it out."

* * *

Torn and Mary had there backs against the wall of the Naughty Ottsel.

"Okay, kid. Don't shoot unless they attack you first or I say so." Mary nodded. Torn turned and kicked the door down and calmly walked in with Mary following behind. He looked around the bar to find a pool of small pool of blood by one of the booths. He took his knife out and tossed his pistol to Mary. "Here, your gonna need two. Precursors, what his that rat got himself into." Mary took the pistol and gave Torn a puzzled look. Rat? What rat? Did a rat own this place? Or is that what he just called the guy? Torn stalked up the stairs and to the back room. Torn gave Mary a signal to get her back up against the wall. Torn kicked the door opened. What he saw he did not expect.

"Torn?" came Daxter's voice. Torn looked surprised when he saw Jak.

"Jak, you look...different." Jak stayed silent then spoke up with relief.

"It's been tough." Mary rushed inside the room with both pistols ready to fire.

"Uh, Tattoed Wonder. Who's she?" Daxter spoke. Torn tuned to see her and back to Daxter.

"Mary. Team's newest addition." Torns communicator beeped and popped out of his pocket and floated around his head.

"Torn, status." Came Ashelin's voice.

"Call off all the guards. We've just been on a goose chase after what we thought was a criminal. I'll escoting him to HQ. Oh, and have a couple of beers ready for the team, babe."

"Um, okay. But whose this we?"

"Oh ya. Have two extra beers." Torn hung up and put the communicator back in his pocket. Mary gocked at Torn. She had never heard anyone talk like that to The Ruler of Haven City.

"Ya, that's what I'm talking about!" Daxter cheered and looked at Jak, "Come on, Babe. Get that hood on and lets go!" Jak smirked.

"What about you? Don't you want to go as an elf?"

"Ya know, Jak. That's a great idea! Torn, go get the hellcat ready, me and Jak will be right out!" Torn rolled his eyes and left the room. Mary followed behind down stairs.

"Who are they?" she asked. Torn halted and thought.

"Well, even though the tall one a renegade, has been banished to the wasteland and is pumped full of dark eco, he's and his rat have saved all of our asses twice. Even after this godforsaken city banished him." he paused, "If I had to tell you who the were in one word I guess they would be..." Torn thougt for a minute. "Heroes"

* * *

**I wrote this in an amazing two days! So originally I wasn't going to have an o.c. in the story. She was just ment to be some guard for that scene. But as I wrote it, it just came out like that. So...ya.**


	6. Chapter 5: The Meeting

Chapter 5: The Meeting

Samous sat floating in the air, talking to the plants in Haven Forrest. The sun was rising and the metal heads were going to be waking up any time soon. Various plants were glowing around him. His ear twitched as Keira came up behind him on her jetboard.

"Hey, Daddy. HQ called, Torn is calling a meeting for the whole team." Samous' ear twitched again as he opened his eyes and landed on the ground.

"Do you feel it, Keira? There's a high amount of energy coming from the city." Keira looked toward the city palace.

"Do you think the cities under attack? Maybe that's why Torn's called a meeting."

"No, it's been in the city for a quite some time, but this time it's closer now." Samous looked in the same direction as his daughter. "Something corrupted. Some sort of colored eco." Keira gave Samous a weird look. "As if...there's another eco sage."

* * *

Jak and Daxter walked out of the Naughty Ottsel. Torn's eyes automatically went to Daxter. He had heard from Sig that Daxter had gained some powers but he didn't believe it. Torn remembered Jak telling him something about Daxter not always being an ottsel but he was to busy to bother with the information. He saw Mary stiffen when Jak came out in with his hood on.

"What's wrong with you?"

"He's the figure." Torn looked back at Jak.

"Oh, trust me. He's harmless now." Jak and Daxter walked up to the Hellcat.

"How about I drive?" Jak asked as he walked up to to Torn. Torn rolled his eyes.

"Sure. Whatever gets us there faster."

"Uh, Torn-" Daxter started.

"Come on, Dax. Torn will need someone to hang onto." Jak said as he climbed into the driver's seat and put his scarf over his face. Daxter climbed up on the back with Torn gripping the Helllcat as if they were going to die.

"What's wrong with you?" Mary asked turning her head.

"Jak's not that good of a driver." Daxter replied nervously. Torn gave Daxter a confused look.

"What do you mean Jak's not that good of a driver? I've seen him drive before, he's fine."

"No. You've seen him drive in Kras city and handle the gun on a zoomer and Hellcat. You have not seen him drive a zoomer or Hellcat." Daxter looked forward again tightening his grip. "I suggest you hold on tight." Jak scoffed.

"Depends on what you consider a good driver, now doesn't it?" Jak looked around to see a lot of people in his way. No problem for him though. "Move it! Freedom Elites coming through!" He yelled as he floored the Hellcat.

"Woah!" Torn yelled as he was thrown backwards. He would've fallen off if it wasn't for Daxter who grabbed him by his forearm.

"Told you to hang on." Daxter said smirking. Torn only grumbled as he held onto the Hellcat for dear life. Torn looked down to see Mary smiling.

"And I thought I was the only one who drove like this!" she yelled over the roar of the engine.

"Oh, so you're the one who's been crashing all the Hellcats this past month." Torn replied.

"Hey, I only crashed it that one time. The rest were those softies that call themselves men." Torn rolled his eyes. Yep, she was definitely related to Mar. The guy had a reputation for being rash and sarcastic, but tough. Torn was snapped out of his thoughts when Mary and Daxter started yelling. "Watch out!" Torn turned his attention back the road to see them going straight for a building. "Jump!" Jak and Mary yelled in unison.

Everybody jumped out of the Hellcat just in time before the Hellcat was blown to pieces. Jak got up and looked at the others. Mary used Torn's shoulder as a support to help herself up, pushing Torn back down in the process. "Woah! Let's do that again!" she yelled pumping her fist up in the air.

"Finally, someone sees it my way." Jak said raising his arms dramatically.

"I liked it better when we where in the desert. You weren't aloud to reck 'em." Daxter said as he tried to tame his frizzed hair. Torn recovered from being pushed back down and gave Mary a snarl. Mary backed up and ran into Daxter.

"Don't worry." he said leaning up against Torn like a pole, "Tattooed Wonder 's always been like this." Mary laughed as Torn shrugged Daxter off his shoulder. Daxter looked over to see Jak about to enter HQ. "Hey, you!" Daxter yelled as he tackled Jak to the ground. Jak grunted as he hit the ground.

"Can I help you? I'm trying to keep my identity covered up here."

"You always enter first. It's my turn."

"Oh ya?"

"Ya." Jak rolled Daxter over so there positions where switched so Daxter was being straddled and his arms were being held down by his wrists. Once they both realized there position they both blushed.

"Uh..." Jak was for once speechless. This was Daxter's chance. Jak let out a yelp as Daxter used his legs to buck him off.

"I win!" Daxter declared.

"Stop you asses! People are staring and you know as well as I do that all three of us have a reputation to keep!" Torn snapped at the two.

"Just wondering ,but-" Mary spoke up, "are you two dating?" Torn and Daxter burst out laughing. On the other hand Jak got up with guilt and nervousness across his blushing face.

'Did they find out?' he asked himself, 'Okay, Jak keep cool. She was just probably joking.' Jak looked over to Mary to have a questioning look on her face.

"Me, date him?" Daxter laughed pointing to Jak. "Please, what a crazy idea. The guys my best friend!" Daxter kept laughing and then noticed the still serious questioning look on Mary's face. "Oh, you were serious?" Daxter asked and then looked away. "In that case, no. We're not."

"Joking or not that was funny." Torn said. Jak glared at Torn. Torn hushed up almost immedietlly. 'Oh, I see.' Torn thought. Jak saw that he got the message so he looked away. "Well, let's go inside. The team's expecting us."

* * *

In the main room stood Ashelin, Keira, Tess, Onin, Samous and Pecker.

"So why did you call us here? Is there something wrong?" Samous asked Ashelin.

"Torn called a meeting. He said we were going on some wild goose chase going after this thing that's been terrorizing cities, said he was escorting it here." Ashelin's attention turned to the elevator door as it opened. Torn walked in, but that was no surprise. She looked to Daxter wondering who he was.

"Did'ya miss me?" Daxter spoke up.

"Daxter, your back to normal!" Keira said as she ran up to him and hugged him.

"Hey, hey, hey. No touching the merchandise." he said as she unwrapped herself from him. Daxter noticed Ashelin looking over to Jak now. He sighed. "Take it off." he commanded. Jak felt all the eyes in the room go on him as he took his hood off. The room was silent until Ashelin walked up to Jak and examined him.

"What happened to you?" she asked softly. He looked away from her gaze.

"It's been a long ride." was all he said. Jak turned to Samous. "Have they been to see you yet?" Samous gave Jak a confused look.

"Who?" he asked. Jak smirked, shaking his head.

"Nevermind. You'll find out."

"Sheesh. You and rat boy look worse than when we first met you!" Pecker said as he flew over to Daxter. "You looked better as a rat!"

"Hey!" Daxter snapped.

"It's okay though. We could always use some live bait at the arena in Spargus." Daxter only growled at Pecker as he flew over to Mary next. "And who might you be skin and armor?" Mary straightened up with a scowl on her face.

"Torn calls me Mary." she said in a stern voice while nodding her head over to Torn.

"Ah, so you brought her along. I was starting to wonder who she is." Ashelin said, "But why a trainee?"

"I have my reasons." he said looking over to Jak. Pecker looked over to Onin to see her waving her hands dramatically.

"Onin says, that you must leave the city at once and head to the desert. And to take Samous and the girl with you."

"Why?" Jak asked. Just then the ground started shaking. Jak felt a sharp pain in his chest from the eco crystals and grabbed onto Daxter for support.

"Jak! Jak, buddy! You okay?" Daxter asked frantically. Jak looked back up to Daxter with hazed filled eyes.

"Dax-" Jak whispered, then collapsed to the floor breathing hard.

"Daddy!" Kiera shrieked as she ran over to Samous who was unconcious on the floor. Daxter looked over to see Torn and Ashelin bending over Mary who was also unconsious.

"Daxter." Jak strained to say. Daxter bent over to check Jak's pulse. It was very low.

"What is it?"

"I need to find them. So we can go to the desert. They had a vision about this."

"Who?"

"The apprentice. We have to find them and get out of here. Now."

* * *

_too be continued..._


	7. Chapter 6: Pine and Beach Sand

_**Okay, we need to get the word out about this story. Tell about it on DeviantArt, or share it on Tumblr. I don't care. JUST GET THE WORD OUT! Oh, and if you wanna look me up on Tumblr or DeviantArt the user name is Zekkenzo.**_

* * *

Chapter 6: Pine and Beach Sand

Jak felt hot and dehydrated. Where was he? What happened? All he could remember was talking to Samous. Jak curled his fingers to find them numb. His chest hurt, and it felt constricted. He tried to sit up finding it easier for some reason. Jak rubbed his eyes and opened them slowly letting them adjust to the bright light of the room. He looked around to find him in his old house in Damas' bed chamber in the Spargus Palace.

He looked down to his chest to see it rapped in bandages. He got up to go to the bathroom to take the bandages off. His chest only started to bleed more and he winced, grabbing on to something for support. Why did he feel so much lighter? Not in the head, but in body weight. He made it to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

He tried to untie the knot that held it together but it wouldn't budge. Eventually he just got frustrated and used his claw to cut it. Hey, just cuss he cut them to look like nails doesn't mean they weren't sharp. His mouth dropped at what he saw in the mirror. The eco crystals in his chest were gone and replaced with gashes. He would've fainted if it wasn't for the sudden rushed of adrenalin. Then he realized someone had to take his shirt off and do this to him. The question was who was it? The only person who would probably be able to do that would be Samous, Daxter, or Torn. He still felt like something else was missing. Some sort of weight should be around his neck. That's when it hit him. His seal!

Jak rushed back into the bed chamber looking everywhere for his seal. Nightstand? No. Bed? No. Closet? No. Couch? No.

Okay. Now was a good time to panic. That's when Daxter walked in with a new pair of clothes for Jak.

"Oh, Jak your up-"

"No time, Daxter. Where is it?"

"Where what?"

"My seal!" he said angrily.

"Oh, that. Sheesh, you couldn't wait for me to give it to you. By the way, got you some new threads." Daxter said as he dug into his pocket and handed the seal to Jak. Jak quickly snatched it away, holding it tight and falling back onto the bed. He put his arm over his eyes and took in a shaky, deep breath. "Jak? You alright?"

"I thought I lost it." he whispered. Daxter sighed and went into the bathroom. Jak sat up and followed in there to see what he was getting into. Daxter pointed back towards the room while rummaging threw the closet.

"Go sit back down on the bed. I'll be right out." Jak huffed and went back to sit on the bed. Daxter came out with a box of bandages. "If your wondering Torn cut the crystals out. Apparently the guy had some sort of medical training while in the krimzon guard." Jak looked down shamefully. "Hey. Don't be like that. You don't have to hide all these changes. Dark eco does stuff to ya. Trust me, I know. My true form is still a two foot tall rat." Jak blushed and smiled a little. "That's better." Daxter said as he started to bandage Jak's torso. Jak just sat there waiting for Daxter to finish. His adrenaline was still going from the thought of loosing his seal, and high adrenaline ment being mute for a while. Daxter finished bandaging Jak and tied a tight not. He pushed Jak down onto the bed and laid next to him. Jak gave the redhead a questioning look. "Just let us stay like this for a while, okay?" Jak smiled.

He closed his eyes and relaxed into Daxter's touch. He could smell the pine from his hair again, but there was something else. Like sand. Not the desert sand though. Like beach sand. Like the beach back home. It had been so long since he thought of that beach. He couldn't even remember the name of it, but he remembered playing there all the time. Especially on is 9th birthday. Not the most pleasant experience with wumbees. "Are you sniffing my hair, Jak?" Jak snapped out of his thoughts. How long was he thinking? It must've been an hour or two.

"Uh, what?"

"Were you sniffing my hair?" Jak blushed and looked away.

"No." he said calmly. Wow, he didn't know he could manage that. Just then, Daxter's communicator beeped and flew around his head as he sat up.

"Hey, chilipepper." Sig greeted, "Don't forget about dinner now."

"No problem. Me and Jak will be down there in a few."

"Oh, Jak's finally awake? About time. Even old green recovered faster than him. Tell I said hello." and with that the communicator flew back to Daxter. Daxter turned to Jak.

"Well, better get ready."

* * *

Mary and Sig stood in the throne room looking out the window.

"It's good to see you again, Mar. Me and Damas thought you were dead."

"Sorry. Me and Mar tried to find a way back but then we got separated in Haven."

"Ya. If I remember you two followed your dads out here even though you guys personally weren't banished."

"Who would take care of us? I was only ten at the time. I couldn't protect Mar, let alone me."

"So, why do you go by your last name?"

"I forgot my first name, but Torn calls me Mary. He says Mar is more of a boy's name."

"Ya. It kinda is." Sig smirked.

"I heard Uncle died recently. He wouldn't be the type of person to give the throne up because of old age. Even though he was only in his late thirties."

"Ya, but Damas went out dying in battle. How he always wanted to. Of what I know one of his last words was it about being good day to die." Mary bowed her head in regret.

"I wish I was there with him. He told me once that one day I would rule beside Mar. I couldn't imagine what it would be like. I wasn't the ruler type. I wan't to go out in the desert and collect artifacts and kill metalheads like you." she said as she smiled at Sig. Sig smirk grew into a smile.

"Ya'know. Why don't you get out of that nasty Freedom League armor. You're in the wasteland, you don't need all those layers in the desert." Mary looked back out the window.

"Ya."

"Oh ya. Damas wanted me to give this to you. He gave Mar's armor away. But he wanted you to have this when he passed on."

* * *

_ too be continued..._


	8. Chapter 7: Effects

Chapter 7: Effects

Jak walked along the ground floor of the palace to the graveyard. The graveyard where his father was buried. Damas probably wouldn't have wanted the desert or ruins to be his grave. He walked up to the graveyard gate to see Sig standing there.

"What are you doing are, chilipepper?" Sig asked.

"Just coming for a visit. Daxter is probably wondering around the palace looking for Keira and Samous." Sig nodded.

"Don't get loud. We have other visitors here now."

" 'Kay." Jak said as he waved to Sig and entered the grave yard. Jak walked around the graveyard for a while looking at the different warrior's names on the stones. Each having a precusor orb in it. He made it to Damas' grave to find Mary standing there. She wasn't wearing her armor any more. She now wore a white shirt with the sleeve ripped off the left side of the shirt. She had orange shoulder and arm guard going down her arm, fingerless gloves, a tan split skirt and dark brown boots with orange rags tied around them. What made Jak's stomach boil was that she was holding his gun staff. How dare she hold his staff. What gave her the right? If anybody deserved to hold it, it was him or Sig.

He calmed himself and walked up to the grave beside her. He would find out why she was holding his father's staff one way or another. Mary turned to Jak.

"Hi." she greeted. Jak only forced a smile and looked back at the grave. "Sig told me you knew Damas very well." she said.

"We were very uh-" Jak paused, "close you could say." Mary looked over Jak. He was wearing Mar's armor.

"You must have been. You're wearing Mar's armor." Jak looked back to Mary with surprise.

"You knew his son?" he asked.

"Ya. We were close. We were both kidnapped when we were young and taken to Haven. After we were separated we never saw each other again. Damas said I would one day rule beside Mar and protect him. I know that day will never come now, but Damas said it's not healthy to cling to what could have been. I think that's why he gave you Mar's armor." Jak looked away trying to hide the surprise on his face.

"Hey, cherrys!" Sig called from the gate. "We're going to be late for dinner if you don't hurry up!"

"Ya, ya. We're coming, ya old coot!" yelled Mary. Jak stared at Mary. No one talked like that to Sig. No one sober at least. Mary ran off toward Sig while Jak just stood there by Damas' grave stone.

"Chilipepper! Hurry yo ass up, we're tired of waiting." Jak shook himself out of his daze. There was an odd feeling in his chest, that made him loose his appetite.

"I think I'll join you later. I've got some stuff to do."

* * *

Torn and Ashelin stood outside the dining hall in silence waiting for the others to show up. Finally, Ashelin spoke up.

"What so special about that girl?" Ashelin said as she turned to Torn. Torn was surprised at the sudden question and looked away.

"Ya know the king who use to rule this place? Damas?"

"Ya."

"Well, I may be only a couple years older than you, but before you were in the guard and he was still the ruler of Haven, as commander of the guard I had to take an oath. And even though he's dead, I still feel like I need to honor that oath till she's on a throne."

"One a throne?"

"Ya. That girl I call Mary is Damas' niece, and Jak's older cousin. Well, I guess she would be his younger cousin now."

"Have you told Jak?" Ashelin asked.

"No. I don't-"

"There you guys are! We've been looking all over for you!" Daxter interrupted as he ran up to them in ottsel form with Kiera and Samous following behind. "You guys seen Sig or that other chick? What was her name?"

"Mary." Ashelin answered.

"Ya, her."

"As for Sig, I haven't seen him since he left for the throne room."

"Has anyone seen Jak?" asked Kiera.

"Ya know, the door is unlocked, right?" Sig said, walking down the hallway. "Ol' chilipepper said he wasn't hungry and had something to do. I could tell he was lying, though. You know how Jak is." Daxter's face turned pale.

'The needles!' he screamed inside his head.

"Daxter? Where are you going?" Kiera asked as he zoomed past her.

"I have to go check on something!" he yelled as he turned the corner to the next hallway. Everyone just stared.

"Shit!" Sig hissed. Everyone turned to Sig.

"What?" Mary asked.

"I left some pills in there."

"Ya. So?"

"Let's just say they have effects."

"Like?" Sig looked around the room thinking of an answer.

"Well, let's just say your not yourself. Kinda like when your drunk."

* * *

Jak walked into his room and collapsed on the bed. He was really hungry but he couldn't find the will to eat at the moment, and it was giving him a headache.

'Wonder if Sig has any medicine around here?' Jak asked himself. He got up and went to the cabinet in the bathroom. All he saw was a single pill bottle. The green-blonde picked it up reading the label.

"Econ, for aches and stress relief." he read aloud. "Seems legit." Jak swallowed the pills with ease and went to go stand out on the balcony over looking Spargus. The sun was setting over the ocean as it cast a reflection. It reminded him of back in Sandover when he would climb to the top of Samous' hut and watch the sunset. Sometimes he would fall asleep and roll off the roof, but that was kinda his own falt. He looked over the other way. You could see desert for miles and not too far off you could see the precursor temple. It looked kinda fuzy to him though. Now that he was looking back to the city everything looked fuzzy. He looked down about ten stories over the balcony and almost fell over because of his lose of balance.

"Whoa." he whispered. His head was spinning and his body felt light. He stumbled backwards into his room tripping over his own feet and falling back, hitting his head. He tried to think straight but couldn't manage a sentence. Almost as if he were drunk. He was kinda feeling horny too now. What was he doing again? Jak didn't bother with the thought, it was too hard to think.

Just then, Daxter burst into the room still in ottsel form.

"JAK!" he yelled and ran up beside him. "Jak? You okay? C'mon, Jak! Get up!" Daxter pulled at his ears, hair, arms. Nothing would work. Daxter sighed. He was going to have to do this the hard way. He turned back into an elf and grabbed his pants and put them on. "C'mon, Jak. Gotta get ya in bed." Daxter said as he leaned over and helped Jak up.

"Daxter?" Jak asked, his voice groggy. "Da- Daxter?" It was hard to speak, "Daxter, what are-" he felt Daxter lifting him up, grabbing his hips and putting his arm around his shoulder. They made their way to the bed.

"Okay, Jak. Nice and- whoa!" Daxter fell back onto the bed with Jak on top of him. "Uh, Jak. Would you mind-" Daxter froze when he felt something damp and soft below his ear on his jawline. "Jak?"

"Hmm." was all he got in reply. Daxter blushed. Why was Jak kissing his neck? He didn't know to enjoy it or not. Would it be wrong? He was his best friend? Jak stopped kissing Daxter's jawline and brought himself to eye level with Daxter. "Ya, know. Ever since Sandover-" Jak paused. It was getting harder and harder to form a sentence, " I've loved you." he slurred as he kissed Daxter on the lips.

* * *

_to be continued..._


	9. Chapter 8: True Power

Chapter 8: True Power

* * *

Jak slowly pulled away from Daxter giggling to himself. Daxter stared at Jak dumbfounded while Jak's giggles grew louder.

"Ja-"

"Ssh." Jak shushed, putting a finger up to Daxter's mouth to silence him. "Don't tell, Daxter." he slurred. He put his mouth back down on Daxter's jawline and continued to kiss it.

"Jak." Daxter struggled to say. Jak's hands started to over Daxter's chest. Daxter felt goosebumps rise to his skin as his arms went limp. "Jak." he tried to say again only to come out as a moan. 'You are not getting turned on by this. You are not getting turned on by this.' one part of his mind said while the other part only denied it saying, 'Ya, you are.' Daxter yelped when he felt Jak's thumb go over his nipple. 'Okay, that's it.' he thought. Daxter summoned a force field and separated himself from Jak.

Jak fell backwards onto his back, hitting his head on the floor and knocking him unconscious. Daxter took a deep breath and calmed himself. He walked over to Jak picking him up and shoving him onto the bed. "Man, how did you get so intoxicated?" Daxter looked down at Jak and tried to think of ways to confront Jak when he woke up. He sighed and turned back into an ottsel, climbing up onto the bed on top of Jak. Maybe he wouldn't remember any of this. Hopefully. Daxter thought some more on the subject. Did Jak really mean what he said or was it just the intoxication talking?

* * *

_ Jak walked up to the precursor temple. It was a section of the temple he had never been in before so he observed every detail. There were writings on the walls and steps that went down along the round wall into the mountain of the temple. He could only see about twenty feet down when you looked over the edge. Jak took a couple of steps back from the edge and transformed into his light alter ego. He folded his wings and ran for the edge jumping off of it. He dived down into the dark abyss, his wings lighting all the steps that they were passing. That's when he heard it. That voice. His voice. His voice was calling out his name._

_ "Mar." It called. Jak immediately spread his wings to decrease his speed and landed softly on the floor. He heard his voice again. Jak looked around frantically looking for the owner of the voice. "Mar." it called calmly._

_"Father!" Jak called out. He turned around to see Damas standing in a far off distance. Well, kinda. He was more like a spirit made of light eco. "Father!" Jak cried out again as he started running toward him. Damas only turned around and walked away. 'Where is he going?' "Father, don't leave me!" __Right when Jak thought he finally caught Damas he disappeared in front of a glowing orange precursor statue._

* * *

Jak shot straight up out of bed breathing hard. He looked around to find himself back in bed. How did he get here? Jak shook his head. 'That's not important.' he thought. Jak jumped out of the bed grabbing his goggles and black cloak from the dresser and hook. 'Was Damas trying to show me something?' Jak ran out of the his room coming across Sig in all the commotion.

"Chilipepper! Thank goodness your awake! We got ourselves a situation here, Mary and Torn have been kidnapped." Jak stopped in his tracks.

"What? How? When?"

"This morning, Daxter was riding on Mary's shoulder when it happened. He said they got ambushed but he got away." Jak started to run again. "Where are you going?"

"I need to go to the Precursor Temple, I'll look for them while I'm there!" Jak yelled as he ran down the hall.

"Bring 'em back safely if ya find 'em!"

"I will!" Jak took the elevator down and dashed out the front door running into Daxter and falling over.

"Hey, big guy. Where ya going?" Daxter asked, his face turning into a tomato. 'Does he remember what happened last night?' Daxter thought. Jak got up and started off in his mad dash again.

"Precursor Temple!" was his only reply as Jak left Daxter outside the palace door. Daxter felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. The redhead turned transforming into an ottsel and ran on top the highest roof he could find in Spargus, and cried.

* * *

It had been hours since Jak started searching the precursor temple and no sign of a new door or Torn or Mary. 'I need to sit down.' Jak thought. Why, for once, couldn't things be easy? Jak looked around the room where he first recevied his light powers. Then he saw it. A hole. A huge hole, was in the wall across from him. "How did I not notice that?" Jak asked himself out loud. "I am such an idiot sometimes." Jak got up and walked over to the hole in the wall. Stairs like the one in his dream lined the circular room. He took a step in and looked over the edge and just like in his dream he could only see about twenty feet down before descending into darkness. Jak turned to walk down the steps. When he set his foot on the first step light eco shot out from his body as it light the writing on the steps and along the walls. He started to descend the stairs more quickly now that he had light. That's when he heard it again.

"Mar." The voice called. That's when Jak burst into full speed down the stairs being careful not to trip. He wouldn't want to fall and roll off the stairs when he still had about fifty more floors to descend. The voice was louder than in his dream but it call his name less.

He reached the bottom floor where he saw the precursor statue. He walked over to it. It was holding an orb of some type that had light eco swirling around inside of it. Jak touched the orb expecting to be filled with light eco but something totally different. The four eco colors sprang out of the orb and whirled around Jak like a tornado before going into him all at once. It felt amazing. There was so much power. It better than light and dark eco combined. He felt an amazing amount of energy he hadn't felt in years from the blue eco, strength from the red eco, power from the yellow eco and heathy and healed from the green eco. One phrase rang in his mind. True power.

Jak felt his seal warm up against his chest. That ment it was activating something. Jak looked over to see a door opening. That's when he saw his spirit again. There standing inside that room, was Damas.

* * *

_to be continued..._


	10. Chapter 9: Steps from Below

Jak could only stare in shock at Damas' spirit. He didn't know what to do. It would be too dangerous to go in with all that eco whirling around. Jak could handle some dark eco, but he didn't know how much colored eco he could take. 'This might be my only chance.' Jak thought. He took a step through the door and all the eco shot at him hitting him and knocking him back a couple of feet. The returned to the room it was once in. Jak rubbed his head and groaned as he got up.

"Jak." Damas' spirit called. Jak looked over to the door to see Damas standing there waiting for him. Jak got up and walked over to him.

"Damas."

"Jak, no one can enter this room."

"Why are you here? I thought you were dead!"

"Only the spirit goes when we truly die."

"What do you mean? Your dead! I- I watched as your finest warriors buried your grave! Even Sig helped!" Damas sighed. He could see Jak was about to have a heart attack if he didn't start explaining.

"I was not ment to die that day. The precursors wanted me to live on. So I preside here in what the monks call the life chamber. By mastering all four eco colors one can come into this room and resurrect one person of their choice and when the day comes that I am destained to truly die I will join the precursors." Damas looked over at Jak to see how he took the information in. It wasn't what he expected. He was expecting Jak to keep his cool, rock hard expression going, instead he got Jak staring at him gaping like a fish. Damas rolled his eyes and continued to talk, "If you really want to ge into this room you can start by mastering some eco and finding your friends that have been kidnaped."

"How do you-"

"I'm wired into the temple, Jak. Think of this chamber as a control room. Now get them and get out of here, they're heading for the top of the temple, and I would hurry if I were you." Jak smiled and replied with a nod and started the long dash up the stares. Damas smiled at him until the stares weren't lit anymore signaling that he was gone. Hopefully he would make it to the top in time.

* * *

It was not Torn's day.. He's had some bad days but this one beat them all. All in one day he was kidnapped, beaten, stabbed, shot at, and chased. Well, he was still being chase but that wasn't the point. The point was that him and Mary needed to get out of there, and the stairs were not helping. Torn and Mary kept feeling up and down the walls for some secret exit but to couldn't find one.

"Out of all the places to be taken it had to be a temple?" Torn questioned himself out loud. Mary took a glance at Torn and shrugged with a sigh returning back to her work.

"Maybe we should look on a different floor." Mary suggested as she began walking up a flight of stairs. Torn wasn't one to take orders but his curiosity got the best of him and he decided to follow the girl. Mary took the first step onto the stairway. Red eco shot out of her body and into the floor lightning the stairs and walls up. Torn gave a suspicious look at Mary and continued to follow her without a word. The two made their way up the stairs a couple of floors before they started to run out of breath. Mary was the first one to suggest that they stop for a break, of course Torn refused. It wasn't twenty minutes until Torn finally collapsed.

"I think it's time for a break." Torn said heavily wheezing. Mary stopped and looked to Torn with a 'I told you so look' look.

"That's what I said twenty minutes ago!" Torn scoffed.

"I'm just getting too old for this and your just too young. Of course our stamina is low." Mary shook her head. She knew what her commander said was true but he was also known to push himself to he collapsed like he was now. Torn and Mary turned their heads when they heard foot steps coming from below. Once again, it was not a good day.


End file.
